The present invention relates to clothes hangers, and more particularly, to improvements in a light-weight clothes hanger especially adapted for use with wet clothing.
A variety of devices have been known in the art for the purpose of hanging clothing; for example, the well-known standard wooden clothes hanger which is usually provided with a varnish coating or the like. Such a hanger is vulnerable to moisture and to wear whereby the varnish is easily removed and therefore the hanger is especially unsuitable for use with wet clothing.
It is often desirable, and particularly is it the case with wet clothing, that greater than usual spacing be provided between the front and back of the hanger so that the front of the garment may be prevented from touching the back, whereby much greater circulation of air will be promoted and hence more rapid drying of the garment will be achieved. The obvious disadvantage of the aforesaid wooden hanger in this respect is that, in order to achieve the foregoing objective, it has to be made quite thick or made in such a formidable shape or contour that it becomes a very expensive proposition.
It has been known, of course, to form a clothes hanger or the like of synthetic plastic material. As background for the present invention, reference can be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,959 in which there is disclosed a plastic clothes hanger. Reference may also be made to Italian Pat. No. 523,183 in which a plastic clothes hanger made of several separable parts is described.
Another problem which presents itself in prior art designs is that the upper surface of the clothes hanger is not appropriately configured so as to promote the elimination of dust which tends to accumulate on the shoulder of a garment left on the hanger for long periods of time.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of conventional clothes hangers and to provide a clothes hanger which has a variety of advantages over those of the prior art.
Another object is to provide a light-weight clothes hanger which will not be subject to mold and mildew.
Another object is to provide a clothes hanger which can be produced at very low cost by reason of lending itself to production in a blow mold process (needle blown process).
Another object of the invention is to provide a full shape or form, that is, to provide wide separation between front and back of the hanger so that great spacing will be afforded between the front and back of the garment when it is hung on the hanger. All of the aforesaid are to be accomplished while retaining the light-weight characteristics.
The above and other objects are fulfilled by the several features herein disclosed, the primary of which is the provision of a clothes hanger comprising an elongated, fully enclosed, hollow light-weight plastic body. By reason of the fact that it is a fully enclosed body, it possesses extremely great strength characteristics so that it can be subjected to rough treatment. It should also be noted that due to its formation of a light-weight plastic such as polyethylene, it is insured that it will retain its shape and will be inert to a variety of corrosion influences such as mold and mildew, etc.
The plastic hollow body for the clothes hanger of the present invention may be considered to comprise a central truncated conical section through which a hook may be extended as will be described. From the central section two symmetrical hollow arms diverge downwardly and these arms deviate, or curve away, from what may be termed a normal vertical plane. The vertical plane referred to is that defined when the hanger is appropriately hung on a suitable clothes rod or the like. The curvilinear shape for the arms means that clothing supported on the hanger, whether it be in the dry or wet state, will keep its shape better because such shape puts slight tension on the hung garment to eliminate wrinkles in its back.
In a typical construction the arms have a width of approximately two inches, thereby providing the requisite spacing required as noted previously.
Another feature is that the upper surfaces of the extending arms are fully rounded, that is, they are convexly shaped upwardly so that when the garment is hung, dust lines on the shoulder of the garment are eliminated, even though the garment may be hung for considerable periods of time. In other words, the very nature of the upper surfaces prevents dust accumulation.
It should also be noted that the back wall of the central section of the hanger merges with the rearward surfaces of the extending arms and is integral therewith. Also, the lower surfaces of the arms are inclined upwardly toward the central vertical axis of the hanger.
Other and further objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be understood by reference to the following specification in conjunction with the annexed drawing, wherein like parts have been given like numbers.